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The Worlds of Philip Jose Farmer #4
The Worlds of Philip Jose Farmer 4: Voyages To Strange Days
The Worlds of Philip Jose Farmer is a series of anthologies featuring stories and essays that examine and expand upon the many creations of Science Fiction Grand Master Philip Jose Farmer.
Each volume focuses on a different aspect of Farmer's career. Volume four focuses on what is perhaps the most obvious, and yet somehow also the most overlooked, aspect of that career: his work as a "classic" science fiction author.
In addition to rare and unpublished material by Farmer, Volume 4 contains stories and essays by Danny Adams, Terry Bibo, Christopher Paul Carey, Martin Gately, Edward C. Lisic, Francois Mottier, Arthur C. Sippo and Paul Spiteri, and features a new foreword by Robert Silverberg.
Each volume focuses on a different aspect of Farmer's career. Volume four focuses on what is perhaps the most obvious, and yet somehow also the most overlooked, aspect of that career: his work as a "classic" science fiction author.
In addition to rare and unpublished material by Farmer, Volume 4 contains stories and essays by Danny Adams, Terry Bibo, Christopher Paul Carey, Martin Gately, Edward C. Lisic, Francois Mottier, Arthur C. Sippo and Paul Spiteri, and features a new foreword by Robert Silverberg.
305 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2014
4 people want to read
About the author
Michael Croteau
8 booksWIN SCOTT ECKERT is co-author (with Philip Jos Farmer) of the Wold Newton novel The Evil in Pemberley House, about Patricia Wildman, the daughter of a certain bronze-skinned pulp hero (Subterranean Press, 2009).
Win, a founding member of the New Pulp movement, also edited and contributed to Myths for the Modern Age: Philip Jos Farmers Wold Newton Universe (MonkeyBrain Books), a 2007 Locus Awards Finalist for Best Non-Fiction book. He has written tales featuring many adventurous & pulp hero characters, including Zorro, The Avenger, The Phantom, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Hareton Ironcastle, Captain Midnight, and Doc Ardan. He has co-edited and written tales for Moonstone Books' The Green Hornet Chronicles and The Green Hornet Casefiles, and has stories forthcoming in Moonstones Sherlock Holmes: The Crossovers Casebook and Honey West. Win also wrote the Foreword to the new edition of Farmers Tarzan Alive: A Definitive Biography of Lord Greystoke (Bison Books, 2006) and the Afterword to the reissue of Farmers Sherlockian crossover novel The Peerless Peer (Titan Books, 2011). He is a regular contributor to Black Coat Press' annual pulp anthology Tales of the Shadowmen, and Meteor House's annual anthology The Worlds of Philip Jos Farmer. Wins latest release is the critically acclaimed encyclopedic Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volume 1 and Volume 2 (Black Coat Press, 2010).
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Win, a founding member of the New Pulp movement, also edited and contributed to Myths for the Modern Age: Philip Jos Farmers Wold Newton Universe (MonkeyBrain Books), a 2007 Locus Awards Finalist for Best Non-Fiction book. He has written tales featuring many adventurous & pulp hero characters, including Zorro, The Avenger, The Phantom, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Hareton Ironcastle, Captain Midnight, and Doc Ardan. He has co-edited and written tales for Moonstone Books' The Green Hornet Chronicles and The Green Hornet Casefiles, and has stories forthcoming in Moonstones Sherlock Holmes: The Crossovers Casebook and Honey West. Win also wrote the Foreword to the new edition of Farmers Tarzan Alive: A Definitive Biography of Lord Greystoke (Bison Books, 2006) and the Afterword to the reissue of Farmers Sherlockian crossover novel The Peerless Peer (Titan Books, 2011). He is a regular contributor to Black Coat Press' annual pulp anthology Tales of the Shadowmen, and Meteor House's annual anthology The Worlds of Philip Jos Farmer. Wins latest release is the critically acclaimed encyclopedic Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World Volume 1 and Volume 2 (Black Coat Press, 2010).
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 2, 2023
You don't have to be a PJF fan to enjoy this book, as I am. But it helps! Perhaps it would be a good introduction to Farmer the citizen of Peoria and the science fiction author. The theme is Farmer as a science fiction author. And, in this, the fourth book in the series "The Worlds of Philip Jose Farmer," we have essays on PJF and stories based on his SF--and material by the Great Peorian himself.
The story "Moth and Rust" is about a third of the book's 300 or so pages and it was originally a novella published in "Startling Stories" in June, 1953. It was expanded into the novel "A Woman A Day" in 1960. As Arthur Sipo points out in his essay, the story was changed in some significant ways. In the original magazine story, it's made clear that it's the sequel to "The Lovers" but that was not clear in the novel. So I appreciate that we have the chance to read the story in its original form. And I appreciate Sipo's discussion of the story.
I also enjoyed the stories written by authors Martin Gately, Danny Adams, Paul Spiteri, Edward C. Lisic, and Christopher Paul Carey. Adams continues the story of Ishmael in "The Wind Whales of Ishmael," which is one of my favorite PJF's books ("The Whiteness of the Whale"). And Carey gives us a story about Detective Raspold which I also enjoyed. He also clears up some discrepancies in Raspold's time line in an essay. One of my favorite PJF characters is Father Carmody and Spiteri does a great job relating a story about the criminal-turned-priest. All to be recommended for Farmer fans--and, if you're not, why not?
The story "Moth and Rust" is about a third of the book's 300 or so pages and it was originally a novella published in "Startling Stories" in June, 1953. It was expanded into the novel "A Woman A Day" in 1960. As Arthur Sipo points out in his essay, the story was changed in some significant ways. In the original magazine story, it's made clear that it's the sequel to "The Lovers" but that was not clear in the novel. So I appreciate that we have the chance to read the story in its original form. And I appreciate Sipo's discussion of the story.
I also enjoyed the stories written by authors Martin Gately, Danny Adams, Paul Spiteri, Edward C. Lisic, and Christopher Paul Carey. Adams continues the story of Ishmael in "The Wind Whales of Ishmael," which is one of my favorite PJF's books ("The Whiteness of the Whale"). And Carey gives us a story about Detective Raspold which I also enjoyed. He also clears up some discrepancies in Raspold's time line in an essay. One of my favorite PJF characters is Father Carmody and Spiteri does a great job relating a story about the criminal-turned-priest. All to be recommended for Farmer fans--and, if you're not, why not?
October 1, 2014
Another wonderful collection curated by Meteor House publisher Michael Croteau, focusing this time on the more classic SF among Farmer's huge expanse of works. Robert Silverberg's nostalgic foreword leads things off and makes me wish I could have met Mr. Farmer -- I've yet to hear from anyone who had a truly negative experience meeting the man. Terry Bibo's essay is about how Farmer could be world-famous everywhere but in his own hometown of Peoria; Francois Mottier recounts traveling from France (where Farmer is still more revered than in his own country) to meet Phil and Bette; and Art Sippo's "For Where Your Treasure Is" details the process by which the novella "Moth and Rust" became the novel A Woman A Day, and conjectures about why Farmer made the rather important changes to the narrative that he did. There are a trio of Farmer-written non-fiction pieces in the book as well (an afterword to a French novel featuring Farmer as the main character, a Guest of Honor speech, and a letter of response to something Marion Zimmer Bradley wrote). All of them are interesting perspectives on Farmer, his work and his process.
More than half of the book is fiction old and new. The "old" is the re-publishing, after too long out of print, of Farmer's original text for "Moth and Rust," a very compelling story about totalitarian regimes, social and individual paranoia, and the faces we wear in public versus private, all wrapped in a mystery about a woman's identity, surrounded by a spy thriller (the main character is undercover in the totalitarian society), with a classic SF trope (aliens whose biology naturally has an affect on human behavoir) blended in. It's a sequel to Farmer's The Lovers, and I definitely now want to read that novel. The new fiction comes from a variety of authors authorized to play in Farmer's sandbox. Both Martin Gately's "Samdroo and the Grassman" and Edward C. Lisic's "Antlers of Flesh" made me want to seek out the novels to which they are connected (The Green Odyssey and Flesh, respectively). Danny Adams' "The Whiteness of the Whale" is a worthy follow-up to Farmer's The Wind Whales of Ishmael. Both Paul Spiteri and Christopher Paul Carey play in the 23rd century-set story cycle featuring Father John Carmody and Detective Raspold. Spiteri's tale is more straightforward SF cautionary tale (not every alien culture is perhaps as idyllic as they seem), while Carey's is a Farmerian blend of noir and SF and a neat bit of retroactive continuity addressing some perceived errors in the timing and terminology of the extant Carmody-Raspold tales. Both are very fun reads.
If you're even partially a Farmer fan, you really can't afford to pass up the Worlds of PJF series from Meteor House, and this volume should be of especial interest to fans of his traditional science fiction work.
Slightly more detailed thoughts on the individual short stories can be found here: http://365shortstories.livejournal.co...
More than half of the book is fiction old and new. The "old" is the re-publishing, after too long out of print, of Farmer's original text for "Moth and Rust," a very compelling story about totalitarian regimes, social and individual paranoia, and the faces we wear in public versus private, all wrapped in a mystery about a woman's identity, surrounded by a spy thriller (the main character is undercover in the totalitarian society), with a classic SF trope (aliens whose biology naturally has an affect on human behavoir) blended in. It's a sequel to Farmer's The Lovers, and I definitely now want to read that novel. The new fiction comes from a variety of authors authorized to play in Farmer's sandbox. Both Martin Gately's "Samdroo and the Grassman" and Edward C. Lisic's "Antlers of Flesh" made me want to seek out the novels to which they are connected (The Green Odyssey and Flesh, respectively). Danny Adams' "The Whiteness of the Whale" is a worthy follow-up to Farmer's The Wind Whales of Ishmael. Both Paul Spiteri and Christopher Paul Carey play in the 23rd century-set story cycle featuring Father John Carmody and Detective Raspold. Spiteri's tale is more straightforward SF cautionary tale (not every alien culture is perhaps as idyllic as they seem), while Carey's is a Farmerian blend of noir and SF and a neat bit of retroactive continuity addressing some perceived errors in the timing and terminology of the extant Carmody-Raspold tales. Both are very fun reads.
If you're even partially a Farmer fan, you really can't afford to pass up the Worlds of PJF series from Meteor House, and this volume should be of especial interest to fans of his traditional science fiction work.
Slightly more detailed thoughts on the individual short stories can be found here: http://365shortstories.livejournal.co...
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews